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80 Book Reviews
evidence above the surface of the water of the submerged city, but, eerily, tombs and
other structures appear in the shallows and when the water level falls during the dry
season.
The oral histories and photographs also document the contradictions and frustrations
inherent in maintaining social ties in two countries, as well as the power of these
ties. Marriage is central to sustaining these links. Photographs depict the marriage of a
young man from Walsall to a woman in Mirpur. There are comments from both the
older and younger generations on the advantages and disadvantages of bringing a bride
or groom from Pakistan. Some young British women are being educated in Mirpur
about how to be good wives when they go back to Britain. A young woman from Britain
obliged to stay in Mirpur with her mother-in-law worries that her children will become
sick. A grandmother talks of how she dislikes coming to England, but misses her
children and grandchildren when she stays in Mirpur.
The authors provide no formal analysis and do not pretend to do so, yet there is
plenty of material here which touches on the themes raised by international labour migration.
The book constitutes a valuable social history; perhaps whose who will most
appreciate it are British Mirpuris themselves and their descendants.
ALISONSHAW
BONNIE O'CONNOR, Healing Traditions: Alternative Medicine and the Health Professions,
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1995. xxiii, 195pp., Bibliography,
Index, Tables, Appendix, Glossary. £34.95 / £15.95 paper.
[A] person coping with cancer may be following a course of chemotherapy
while simultaneously using prayer for healing, together with the application
of sacred relics to the afflicted partes) of the body; following a natural foods
diet and taking large doses of vitamins and minerals in an effort to eliminate
toxins and bolster the immune system; practizing meditation to reduce stress,
and visualization to mobilize the body's healing forces; using botanical or
homeopathic medicines to combat the side effects of chemotherapy; and seeing
a chiropractor to help restore vitality and proper functioning, or an acupuncturist
for pain control or restoration of critical internal balance. (p. 26)
Depending upon your biases, this text is set to become either an informative key reading
in the anthropology of health, or a controversial example of overstated folklore.
For me, this text has already become the backbone of a new course that I teach, 'Sociological
and Anthropological Perspectives on Health', and it has stimulated me to consider
practising anthropology down some new and different avenues.
As suggested by the quote above, this work examines the US health-care environment,
one which has become more rather than less diverse and pluralistic in practice
in recent times. What is also interesting are the fmdings in this book, which show
that despite all the advances in scientific medicine, the expected decline in nonbiomedical
health-belief systems has not come about: traditional systems such as 'folk